During a tech conference earlier this week, Microsoft’s Tami Reller, who was recently named as one of two new heads who took over Steven Sinofsky’s role as Windows lead, spoke about Windows 8, the upcoming Surface Pro, and replacing Steven Sinofsky. Reller even had a few things to say about Julie Larson-Green.

During the tech conference, Reller spoke about how Windows 8 sold over 40 million licenses since its launch, which came as no surprise. Microsoft has been mentioning this fact over and over and with good cause. Reller even added that Windows 8 is basically Windows 7, but better.

Reller also spoke about how there isn’t enough Windows 8 devices in the market today. “If you go into retail today, you will see some great touch devices, whether it’s touch laptops, or whether it’s a tablet or two with Windows 8 or Windows RT. It’s not enough in our opinion. I mean, we think the pipeline is great, and we’re excited to see that pipeline come into retail. And they are coming. And so our OEMs are doing great work, and we’ll see that come in over the next several months. Some you’ll see in December, some it will take longer. But I think it’s good, but not great in terms of the full touch assortment,” Reller stated. In other words, there are a lot of Windows 8 touch devices in the market today, but not as much as Microsoft wanted and hoped for.

As for the Surface Pro, Reller mentions that it will be available in January but offered no specific details. “Surface with the Windows 8 Pro will be available in January,” Reller added. This pretty much quells any rumors that surfaced recently about Microsoft “forgetting” about the Surface Pro.

Regarding Steven Sinofsky, who left Microsoft abruptly, Reller adds, “I will miss Steven. I will miss working with him on a daily basis. And one of his strong philosophies is that any organization and any system that has to deliver something as big as Windows absolutely needs to be able to live past any one leader, or really any one small set of leaders. And so that philosophy is really part of the DNA of the organization. And we have the benefit of such a strong leadership team and oftentimes in Windows you really only get to see a few visible senior leaders, but the reality is, not only are those senior leaders very strong, but the bench of senior leaders that represent the product holistically.”

Reller also had a few things to say regarding her “partner” Julie Larson-Green. “Julie has such an ability to not only set a vision for the product, but just to be able to carry on the collaboration that really was such a key part of Windows 8. There is so much we were able to accomplish, and we just see the possibility that that presents to consumers, and we just want to keep that going, and Julie and the team will be able to do that.”

For those that don’t know, Julie Larson-Green took over as the Windows software and hardware engineering lead, while Tami Reller became in-charge of business and marketing strategy for Windows.